Review:
" Silent Steel ably succeeds as a thriller, a tragedy, a mystery and a snapshot of history." ( The Virginian–Pilot ) "Johnson exhaustively explores everything known about the vessel′s final year–and–a–half of operation. An engrossing documentation of haunting, grisly what–ifs." ( Kirkus Reviews ) Johnson painstakingly details the last 18 months of the Cold War–era fast–attack nuclear submarine U.S.S. Scorpion , which disappeared with all hands on May 22, 1968, in the mid–Atlantic. Commissioned in 1960, the Scorpion tested nuclear sub warfare tactics in exercises around the world until its final voyage following four months of duty with the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. When the ship didn′t emerge at its homeport of Norfolk, Va., on its scheduled arrival date of May 27, 1968, the navy launched its largest search in U.S. naval history and reported the ship and its 99 crewmen officially dead on June 5. Four months later, the navy located pieces of the ship′s hull in more than 10,000 feet of water. Further investigations came to no definitive conclusion about what caused the demise of the Scorpion . Was it a Soviet attack? Did one of the Scorpion ′s torpedoes accidentally detonate? Did its hull crack due to poor maintenance? Did its main storage battery explode? Mining navy documents and first–person testimony, Johnson′s deeply researched effort explores these and other possible explanations, but concludes that the ship′s end will remain an enigma. (Jan.) ( Publishers Weekly , October 31, 2005)
" Silent Steel ably succeeds as a thriller, a tragedy, a mystery and a snapshot of history." ( The Virginian–Pilot ) "Johnson exhaustively explores everything known about the vessel′s final year–and–a–half of operation. An engrossing documentation of haunting, grisly what–ifs." ( Kirkus Reviews ) "...painstakingly...deeply researched." ( Publishers Weekly , October 31, 2005)
About the Author:
Veteran journalist STEPHEN JOHNSON first wrote about the Scorpion in a series of articles for the Houston Chronicle from 1993 to 1995 and assisted documentary makers and authors researching the disaster, including the authors of the bestselling Blind Man′s Bluff . Johnson has discussed the Scorpion on Nova′s Submarines, Secrets, and Spies and on The History Channel.
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